Thought I'd also post pics of the afghan I'm making for Christmas. Won't say who it's for, but I'm making two, with different yarn. Maybe a clue?? This is called a Monet Afghan and the pattern is by The Crochet Dude (blog here http://blog.thecrochetdude.com/ , and pattern page here http://www.lulu.com/thecrochetdude ). These are very easy squares and are pretty easy to make while in a car or watching TV. You don't have to memorize complex stitches, it's all just single and double crochet in a pattern, also easy to remember. I like that!

My sweet Sarah left on the Trek reenactment on Tuesday morning. I keep checking her bedroom because it's too quiet. LOL. I have no doubt that I will be this way when Spencer goes, too. The kids are at Bing Canyon, about 20 miles or so south of us. There was a nice writeup in our local paper about it, here http://www.tri-cityherald.com/901/story/258613.html . I took a pic of Sarah in her pioneer dress before they left and am posting it here. Yes, it was windy, but it hasn't been unbearably hot as it often is this time of year, so hopefully they aren't totally miserable!

We made our lightning trip to Utah this past week. We left on Thursday and went as far as Boise; stayed overnight there with one of Alan's cousins. Had fun talking and really appreciated the opportunity to stay there overnight. Then on Friday it was off to Utah! We ended up staying with Suzan and Randy in Sandy, Utah. Thanks!! They put us in their basement, which is lots better than it probably sounds, LOL. We had a nice cool room, kitchenette, bathroom, and TV to entertain us when we weren't out gallivanting around.

On Saturday, we went to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir Pioneer Day Concert. The special guests were The Osmonds, finishing up a year-long tour celebrating 50 years in the entertainment industry. It was a wonderful experience, and if you have the opportunity to watch the show on BYU-TV, please do! I will remember it forthe rest of my life, and enjoy the beautiful music in my brain!

Here's a picture of the Salt Lake City Temple, taken from the Conference Center on Saturday night. Also a pic of the choir in their seats after the show (we weren't allowed to take pics during the event). Tons of fun, and so glad we went, even though I think I had heat stroke or heat exhaustion from the 101+ heat and humidity. It was well worth it and we loved it!

Finally! Thanks to Constance (THANKS!!) over at LDSMoms for posting the links to these great blog backgrounds! I had no idea!! Call me naive ... but isn't it FUN?! I am gonna have to blog more, I have to try all these great backgrounds out now (LOL).

We are well into summer now. And the a/c on the Taurus went out on Saturday night. Fun, fun, fun! (Not really!) It is in the shop right now getting looked at. Prayers for an easy and relatively inexpensive fix would be great!

On another note, here are some of the latest projects I've been working on. I joined a crochet group and have made two Go Green Market Bags (from http://suzies-yarnie-stuff.blogspot.com/), and am working on a third. Go me! These are easy to make and I'm hoping maybe I can sell some and earn some cash. We could surely use it! The first one is made from Red Heart variegated yarn called Fall. The second one (longer handles) is made from RH variegated also, and is called Painted Desert (I think; couldn't find the label after I took it off!). If anybody wants one, let me know!

Your Spelling is Perfect

You got 10/10 correct. Your spelling is excellent. You also have a great memory and eye for detail.

How's" Your Spelling?

Good grief, I do not even know what to post about first! We got through Christmas, only to have snow days hit us ... oh, and the flu! I got vaccinated but apparently we got the strain that wasn't in the vaccine (our run of bad luck continues!). Sarah came down with it first, with a high fever and runny nose and coughing. Then she shared it with me and Alan, then Spencer got it. Luckily Spencer only missed 2 days of school , what with the snow days. Here are pics of Sarah and Spencer in the snow. Sarah's on "Mount Noakes", whch is what we call our snow pile after DH gets done shoveling the driveway ...

Well, Christmas has come and gone and I still have the tree up in my living room. Most of the ornaments are off, we just have to repack them and put them away. I haven't been very motivated, to be honest, but I've got it on my agenda for this week! Thought I'd post some pics of what I gave my SIL Caroline for Christmas. We draw names on hubby's side of the family, and I got Caroline this year. I made her a table runner that is basically made from charm squares, and 8 matching coasters (they have 5 kids so I figured they needed at least 8 coasters!). She really liked the gift, and MIL said they spent part of the time figuring out how the coasters were made. They're quite easy, just a basic 4-patch but you don't sew the patches together. You lay them in a grid and sew around the edge, then turn from the middle. Voila!

A group of us at church are taking Spanish lessons every other Tuesday night. It's a lot of fun! I am remembering more Spanish than I thought I would. I really hope to become proficient enough that I can use it at work. I'm subbing as a paraeducator (teacher's aide) at one of the local elementary schools. I really like the school and the teachers and other paras a lot. I'm hoping to go permanent, but the job I posted for (which is the job I'm doing at the moment) is probably going to go to the son of one of the teachers there. That's a whole 'nother story that I'm not really happy about, but oh well. So far they haven't told me that the job is gone yet, but then again they never told the other sub who posted for it that it was gone either, until she asked the principal outright. *Anyway!* I was going to post about Spanish. I am really having fun with this. I took basically 3-1/2 years of Spanish in my junior high/high school years, and really liked it a lot then. I wish I'd been able to keep taking courses at college, but I dropped out and didn't get back into the swing of things here at the local college. I'm really glad for this opportunity, though, and hopefully will be able to keep my momentum up this time around.

I really do need to get better at this. LOL. I thought I'd post the Halloween pictures. Sarah went as an "80's chick" and Spencer was, of course, a pirate. Actually, he wanted to be a Star Wars character but the only costumes we found for that were horribly expensive. So he compromised on his character choice and went with a pirate. Isn't he cute?! You can't tell from this picture but Sarah has tights on and leg warmers, too. The side ponytail was cute, she crimped her hair and we pulled it up into the ponytail. (I never did get into that look. My hair was always too short, I guess. Plus the 80s just weren't "me".)

Argh! I really hate blogs. I can't get the text to go up by the pictures. It worked the time before. Go figure. Bleck.

The kids are OFF to school! Sarah started the 8th grade today, and Spencer started 5th grade. Wah! Next year I'll have a high schooler and a middle schooler, yikes! They were both raring to go and excited. Sarah gets to take high-school level geometry because she got a high score on the MAPS test (an assessment test given in Washington State), and Spanish, which she's excited about. Oh, and science. Not sure how excited she is about that one, LOL. Oh, and another year of honors English. Spencer has a teacher that Sarah had when she was in 3rd grade and just starting in the gifted program. Mrs. Devine moved up to teach 5th grade two years ago and seems to be really good with the older kids, too. Here are the pics: the kids chose their (new) outfits, both have new backpacks, and Spencer has a new lunchbox. Sarah wanted to have lunch in a plain brown sack this year because she has to carry her books around the whole time after lunch, and the actual lunchbox was awkward. That's okay by me ...

We are back from the Oregon Coast trip. Tired, cranky, and I'm sick. Sinus infection, ear infection, and bronchitis. Lovely! I didn't sleep much the whole time we were at the coast. The bed was too squishy and Alan's every movement made it shake. LOL. Oh well! At least I got into the doctor and hopefully will be feeling better soon. I certainly have enough to do to keep me busy without being sick on top of it all! Apollo (the royal cat) missed us horribly. Emily came over and kept him fed and his litter box cleaned out, but still, he missed his people! (He owns us, don't ya know.) Sarah is off to Beehive Camp at Ensign Ranch for the whole week. I miss her already and she's only been gone one night! Hope she's okay. I think the whole week long vacation and leaving the day after we got back was a little much. I tried to convince the gang to leave on Saturday so we could rest a day but I was overruled. Figures!

Oh, and the picture is of the kiddos on our last day at the beach! They had a good time, so I'm glad for them. Me, that's another story, but oh well. Save that for another post!

I am so horrible at this blogging. I really need to do better!! My sweet kids are out of school now, have been for a month. When does it start again?!! I love them but they are not doing exactly what *I* had planned for the summer. Here's a picture of Spencer with his teacher on the next-to-last day of school. They were pretending to be grumpy! We will really miss Mrs. Bales, she's been a great teacher to both Sarah and Spencer! She and her husband are taking a year off and having a sailing adventure up the Canadian coast. I'm just so glad I got to know her better this year when I volunteered in the computer lab. She's a great lady!

My sweet Sarah got glasses late in February. Here's a picture of her in them. I think she looks pretty cute ... older too! Which I'm not all that happy about, actually. But she's doing great in school and church and is turning into a great young lady!

You Are From Neptune

You are dreamy and mystical, with a natural psychic ability. You love music, poetry, dance, and (most of all) the open sea. Your soul is filled with possibilities, and your heart overflows with compassion. You can be in a room full of friendly people and feel all alone. If you don't get carried away with one idea, your spiritual nature will see you through anything.

What Planet Are You From?

I really do mean to post more often than this. Just isn't happening right now! It's been a busy summer and the start of school makes it worse, I think. Plus today the kids are both sick. Well, Sarah went to school, but Spencer started throwing up last night and so I kept him home. He's had it the other end too, lovely huh? Plus I don't feel really great either. I was up with him most of the night and got about an hour's sleep, maybe. Bleh. He seems to be doing a bit better. He hasn't thrown up for about 4 hours, so fingers crossed this is the end. He's really pale for him, though, and that worries me. But I've been giving him Pedialyte and some Sprite to drink and so far he's kept it down okay.

Other than that, same old same old. Sarah started 7th grade and Spencer started the 4th grade. They are growing up so fast! I don't want my babies to get so grownup! Here are some pictures of them on the first day of school.

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted! It's July 2, and I am so far behind it isn't funny anymore! The kids got out of school on June 9 and it seems like we've just been going and going since then. Next week they're due to start swimming lessons (a 3-week session), then we're going to the Oregon Coast for a week on the family vacation. Then Sarah goes to girl's camp for the first time, and then school will be starting shortly after that! Where does the time go?

It is absolutely POURING here today. Reminds me of the weather on Saturday when we drove back from Seaside. Thursday and Friday in Seaside were absolutely gorgeous, warm, sunny, wonderful spring break weather. Saturday morning we woke up to weather that made me wonder when Noah was going to pull up with the ark. But we had fun anyway. We went to the aquarium which is just a small aquarium but it was neat to look around. The best part was the opportunity for the kids to feed the seals! Then we went to Pig n' Pancake (a local restaurant that I can't say enough good things about!) and had lunch, then headed home. It was good to get back, to see Apollo (the king of the household) and to sleep in my own bed. Hotel beds are really horrible!

Here I am, back again. Lots of things going on around here. I've been sick (still!), had a bad cold and possible sinus infection but I'm trying to fight it off without a doctor's visit. We've had a winter storm sweep through and have had winds gusting (today) up to 35 mph. Lovely. But it's a fact of life living here. Years ago when the Hanford Site was first operational, the workers used to call these winds "termination winds", because so many of the workers would quit after the first big windstorm. Of course back then there was much less development so there was a lot more dust and dirt that blew around. I admire the women who stuck it out, I really do!

I'm a scrapbooker, trying to organize myself. I'm also a quilter, sewer, crocheter, and cross-stitcher. Do I have too many hats on? (Probably.) I really need to get cracking though on some projects that I have started for gifts. I have a ton of things in progress (unfinished objects aka UFOs) that just need a touch more work to be done. Maybe I'll use this blog as my motivation ... Here's a digital layout I did of my daughter Sarah and her cousin Kathryn. We were at one of the local cemeteries on Memorial Day last year and the girls just spontaneously posed for me. Cute kids, huh?